


they live the rest of their lives, but not together

by mollivanders



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Ending, Coda, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-08-08
Updated: 2009-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:22:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26992099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mollivanders/pseuds/mollivanders
Summary: Aragorn lives in the shadow of Faramir and Éowyn's happiness.
Relationships: Éowyn/Faramir (Son of Denethor II)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	they live the rest of their lives, but not together

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note: I'm not sure how I feel about this. I'm not a huge fan of LOTR fanfiction, but I got this idea and it wouldn't go away. Tolkien is my hero so I did my best to not destroy his characters <3 [Update] I wrote this back in 2009 and just made very small edits to bring it over to AO3. 
> 
> Disclaimer: LOTR belongs to the Tolkien estate, I own nothing.

It is years before Aragorn wonders what his life would have been like with Éowyn.  
  
Faramir and Éowyn are secure in Ithilien, happy in their lives, and he sees them only when they visit Minas Tirith, though their citadel-home is always in sight. When they do visit, Aragorn never seeks her out, avoiding memories of war and the way the world was more than her presence itself. Like him, she represents a time he is trying to forget, since it cannot be reclaimed.  
  
Eventually, though, it happens. Faramir and Éowyn are visiting at Yuletide, and he happens upon her in a snowy courtyard teaching her young son how to handle a wooden sword. She straightens his back, adjusts his arm, and slowly shows him how to parry and defend. Her son goes on the offense and she laughs, delighted, as she retreats and circles around him. She looks up for a moment and spies Aragorn leaning in the corridor's shadows; she pauses, smiles a different smile, and inclines her head to him before turning back to her son.  
  
Moving on, Aragorn feels a flash of emotion that he doesn't understand. He cannot forget the scene.  
  
The next time he happens upon her, he is visiting Emyn Arnen in late summer to discuss some local issues with Faramir. The visit goes well and Aragorn is wandering the halls, enjoying the peace and quiet when he spies the couple in a lower garden.   
  
He slows his steps, watching as Faramir plucks a flower, spins it before her, and makes some joke before tucking it into one of her braids. Amused, Éowyn raises her hand to trace his face before reaching up to kiss him. It is natural, and private, but Aragorn cannot tear his eyes away from the way her hand curls around his neck to hold him there. To him, it’s an unfamiliar embrace.  
  
He departs the next day, only slightly unsettled, and when he arrives home Arwen is there to greet him with their eldest son in tow. The boy is slightly in awe of his father and Arwen has to pull him forward to greet him. Ruffling his son's hair Aragorn reaches out for her, pulling them both into his embrace. This is familiar.  
  
And yet later that night, as her lips slide over his, when he shuts his eyes he sees sunlight and flowers.  
  
The Dúnadan are not easily possessed by jealousy or dishonor, and so Aragorn forces himself to consider what he feels for Éowyn. He realizes it is _not_ jealousy, or a wish that he could leave Arwen, but only a wish that he had never met Arwen so he would never have to love her and lose another, or that he had never met Éowyn in turn.  
  
(It is not a sentiment he wishes he carry forward.)

Aragorn’s solution is simple; he avoids any more private encounters, so as not to fuel impossible dreams. Éowyn, it seems, does not notice his distance, and when they cross paths she is content with their short conversations. For her, he thinks, the past must all be nightmares, and he cannot blame her for her happiness.   
  
Instead, he speaks with Faramir, a man who has remained interesting and with whom he can speak plainly (save one subject). Aragorn recognizes the repetition, however, when they come back from their riding and scouting to see Éowyn waiting for them on the stairs, wind in her hair, and wonders at his motives.  
  
The years pass, and he watches with dismay as her hair turns from gold to silver. He dreads the day he'll outlive a woman whom he respects and who in turn treats him as Aragorn, not Elendil. And yet, she is still the White Lady, beautiful as ever.   
  
Faramir grows old as well, and while there are always men to guard his steps, it is Éowyn he reaches for when he is uncertain, and Éowyn who is always there. Watching them, Aragorn is plagued by worry, not jealousy, and brings them to court where they are safe from the wilder elements.  
  
Up close, Aragorn can grasp Éowyn’s sense of loss as another man she loves is slowly taken from her. She remains strong for Faramir, the way she remained strong for Théoden, and when Faramir falls ill, Arwen sends the royal doctor to wait on them. It is strange to see the Evenstar tending to the White Lady, and though Aragorn has at last won peace from his dreams, the scene disturbs him.  
  
He wishes he could comfort her, because all who watch can see that Faramir is fading.  
  
Faramir finally does pass, and Aragorn grants him the honor of resting in the House of the Stewards with his forefathers. When they bury him, Éowyn becomes the image of her youth, strong and steadfast. It is only when her daughter chants the funeral song that, one at a time, tears slip down her face. She remains behind, after the mourners depart, and rests her arms across her husband's tomb, wrapped in quiet grief and the intruding wind.  
  
That same night, she leaves Minas Tirith to be with Éomer once more. Bidding her farewell for the last time, Aragorn shares a fraction of her heartbreak.  
  
He has been old for an age, but only now does he feel tired.  
  
 _Finis_


End file.
